Christ the End of the Law

A sermon delivered on Lord's-Day morning, November 19th, 1876, by C. H. Spurgeon.

"For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth" (Romans 10:4).

DOU REMEMBER we spoke last Sabbath morning of "the days of the
Son of man." Oh that every Sabbath now might be a day of that kind in the most
spiritual sense. I hope that we shall endeavour to make each Lord's Day as it
comes round a day of the Lord, by thinking much of Jesus by rejoicing much in
him, by labouring for him, and by our growingly importunate prayer, that to him
may the gathering of the people be. We may not have very many Sabbaths together,
death may soon part us; but while we are able to meet as a Christian assembly,
let us never forget that Christ's presence is our main necessity, and let us
pray for it and entreat the Lord to vouchsafe that presence always in displays
of light, life and love! I become increasingly earnest that every preaching time
should be a soul-saving time. I can deeply sympathize with Paul when he said,
"My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved." We
have had so much preaching, but, comparatively speaking, so little believing in
Jesus; and if there be no believing in him, neither the law nor the gospel has
answered its end, and our labour has been utterly in vain. Some of you have
heard, and heard, and heard again, but you have not believed in Jesus. If the
gospel had not come to your hearing you could not have been guilty of refusing
it. "Have they not heard?" says the apostle. "Yes, verily:" but still "they have
not all obeyed the gospel." Up to this very moment there has been no hearing
with the inner ear, and no work of faith in the heart, in the case of many whom
we love. Dear friends, is it always to be so? How long is it to be so? Shall
there not soon come an end of this reception of the outward means and rejection
of the inward grace? Will not your soul soon close in with Christ for present
salvation? Break! Break, O heavenly day, upon the benighted ones, for our hearts
are breaking over them.

The reason why many do not come to Christ is not because they are not earnest, after a fashion,
and thoughtful and desirous to be saved, but because they cannot brook God's way
of salvation. "They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge," We do
get them by our exhortation so far on the way that they become desirous to
obtain eternal life, but "they have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God." Mark, "submitted themselves," for it needs submission.
Proud man wants to save himself, he believes he can do it, and he will not give
over the task till he finds out his own helplessness by unhappy failures.
Salvation by grace, to be sued for in forma pauperis, to be asked for as
an undeserved boon from free, unmerited grace, this it is which the carnal mind
will not come to as long as it can help it: I beseech the Lord so to work that
some of you may not be able to help it. And oh, I have been praying that, while
this morning I am trying to set forth Christ as the end of the law, God may
bless it to some hearts, that they may see what Christ did, and may perceive it
to be a great deal better than anything they can do; may see what Christ
finished, and may become weary of what they themselves have laboured at so long,
and have not even well commenced at this day. Perhaps it may please the Lord to
enchant them with the perfection of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus. As
Bunyan would say, "It may, perhaps, set their mouths a watering after it," and
when a sacred appetite begins it will not be long before the feast is enjoyed.
It may be that when they see the raiment of wrought gold, which Jesus so freely
bestows on naked souls, they will throw away their own filthy rags which now
they hug so closely.

I am going to speak about two things, this morning, as the Spirit of God shall help me: and
the first is, Christ in connection with the law?he is "the end of the law
for righteousness"; and secondly, ourselves in connection with Christ?"to
everyone that believeth Christ is the end of the law for righteousness."

I. First, then, CHRIST IN CONNECTION WITH THE LAW. The law is that which, as sinners, we have
above all things cause to dread; for the sting of death is sin, and the strength
of sin is the law. Towards us the law darts forth devouring flames, for it
condemns us, and in solemn terms appoints us a place among the accursed, as it
is written, "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are
written in the book of the law to do them." Yet, strange infatuation! like the
fascination which attracts the gnat to the candle which burns its wings, men by
nature fly to the law for salvation, and cannot be driven from it. The law can
do nothing else but reveal sin and pronounce condemnation upon the sinner, and
yet we cannot get men away from it, even though we show them how sweetly Jesus
stands between them and it. They are so enamoured of legal hope that they cling
to it when there is nothing to cling to; they prefer Sinai to Calvary, though
Sinai has nothing for them but thunders and trumpet warnings of coming judgment.
O that for awhile you would listen anxiously while I set forth Jesus my Lord,
that you may see the law in him.

Now, what has our Lord to do with the law? He has everything to do with it, for he is its end
for the noblest object, namely, for righteousness. He is the "end of the law."
What does this mean? I think it signifies three things: first, that Christ is
the purpose and object of the law; secondly, that he is the fulfillment
of it; and thirdly, that he is the termination of it.

First, then, our Lord Jesus Christ is the purpose and object of the law. It was given to
lead us to him. The law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, or rather our
attendant to conduct us to the school of Jesus. The law is the great net in
which the fish are enclosed that they may be drawn out of the element of sin.
The law is the stormy wind which drives souls into the harbour or refuge. The
law is the sheriff's officer to shut men up in prison for their sin, concluding
them all under condemnation in order that they may look to the free grace of God
alone for deliverance. This is the object of the law: it empties that grace may
fill, and wounds that mercy may heal. It has never been God's intention towards
us, as fallen men, that the law should be regarded as a way to salvation to us,
for a way of salvation it can never be. Had man never fallen, had his nature
remained as God made it, the law would have been most helpful to him to show him
the way in which he should walk: and by keeping it he would have lived, for "he
that doeth these things shall live in them." But ever since man has fallen the
Lord has not proposed to him a way of salvation by works, for he knows it to be
impossible to a sinful creature. The law is already broken; and whatever man can
do he cannot repair the damage he has already done: therefore he is out of court
as to the hope of merit. The law demands perfection, but man has already fallen
short of it; and therefore let him do his best. He cannot accomplish what is
absolutely essential. The law is meant to lead the sinner to faith in Christ, by
showing the impossibility of any other way. It is the black dog to fetch the
sheep to the shepherd, the burning heat which drives the traveller to the shadow
of the great rock in a weary land.

Look how the law is adapted to this; for, first of all, it shows man his sin. Read the ten
commandments and tremble as you read them. Who can lay his own character down
side by side with the two tablets of divine precept without at once being
convinced that he has fallen far short of the standard? When the law comes home
to the soul it is like light in a dark room revealing the dust and the dirt
which else had been unperceived. It is the test which detects the presence of
the poison of sin in the soul. "I was alive without the law once," said the
apostle, "but when the commandment came sin revived and I died." Our comeliness
utterly fades away when the law blows upon it. Look at the commandments, I say,
and remember how sweeping they are, how spiritual, how far-reaching. They do not
merely touch the outward act, but dive into the inner motive and deal with the
heart, the mind, the soul. There is a deeper meaning in the commands than
appears upon their surface. Gaze into their depths and see how terrible is the
holiness which they require. As you understand what the law demands you will
perceive how far you are from fulfilling it, and how sin abounds where you
thought there was little or none of it. You thought yourself rich and increased
in goods and in no need of anything, but when the broken law visits you, your
spiritual bankruptcy and utter penury stare you in the face. A true balance
discovers short weight, and such is the first effect of the law upon the
conscience of man.

The law also shows the result and mischief of sin. Look at the types of the old Mosaic
dispensation, and see how they were intended to lead men to Christ by making
them see their unclean condition and their need of such cleansing as only he can
give. Every type pointed to our Lord Jesus Christ. If men were put apart because
of disease or uncleanness, they were made to see how sin separated them from God
and from his people; and when they were brought back and purified with mystic
rites in which were scarlet wool and hyssop and the like, they were made to see
how they can only be restored by Jesus Christ, the great High Priest. When the
bird was killed that the leper might be clean, the need of purification by the
sacrifice of a life was set forth. Every morning and evening a lamb died to tell
of daily need of pardon, if God is to dwell with us. We sometimes have fault
found with us for speaking too much about blood; yet under the old
testament the blood seemed to be everything, and was not only spoken of but
actually presented to the eye. What does the apostle tell us in the Hebrews?
"Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when
Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took
the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and
sprinkled both the book, and all the people saying, this is the blood of the
testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover he sprinkled with blood
both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry. And almost all things
are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is not
remission." The blood was on the veil, and on the altar, on the hangings, and on
the floor of the tabernacle: no one could avoid seeing it. I resolve to make my
ministry of the same character, and more and more sprinkle it with the blood of
atonement. Now that abundance of the blood of old was meant to show clearly that
sin has so polluted us that without an atonement God is not to be approached: we
must come by the way of sacrifice or not at all. We are so unacceptable in
ourselves that unless the Lord sees us with the blood of Jesus upon us he must
away with us. The old law, with its emblems and figures, set forth many truths
as to men's selves and the coming Saviour, intending by every one of them to
preach Christ. If any stopped short of him, they missed the intent and design of
the law. Moses leads up to Joshua, and the law ends at Jesus.

Turning our thoughts back again to the moral rather than the ceremonial law, it was intended
to teach men their utter helplessness. It shows them how short they fall
of what they ought to be, and it also shows them, when they look at it
carefully, how utterly impossible it is for them to come up to the standard.
Such holiness as the law demands no man can reach of himself. "Thy commandment
is exceeding broad." If a man says that he can keep the law, it is because he
does not know what the law is. If he fancies that he can ever climb to heaven up
the quivering sides of Sinai, surely he can never have seen that burning mount
at all. Keep the law! Ah, my brethren, while we are yet talking about it we are
breaking it; while we are pretending that we can fulfil its letter, we are
violating its spirit, for pride as much breaks the law as lust or murder. "Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one." "How can he be clean that
is born of a woman?" No, soul, thou canst not help thyself in this thing, for
since only by perfection thou canst live by the law, and since that perfection
is impossible, thou canst not find help in the covenant of works. In grace there
is hope, but as a matter of debt there is none, for we do not merit anything but
wrath. The law tells us this, and the sooner we know it to be so the better, for
the sooner we shall fly to Christ.

The law also shows us our great need?our need of cleansing, cleansing with the water
and with the blood. It discovers to us our filthiness, and this naturally leads
us to feel that we must be washed from it if we are ever to draw near to God. So
the law drives us to accept of Christ as the one only person who can cleanse us,
and make us fit to stand within the veil in the presence of the Most High. The
law is the surgeon's knife which cuts out the proud flesh that the wound may
heal. The law by itself only sweeps and raises the dust, but the gospel
sprinkles clean water upon the dust, and all is well in the chamber of the soul.
The law kills, the gospel makes alive; the law strips, and then Jesus Christ
comes in and robes the soul in beauty and glory. All the commandments, and all
the types direct us to Christ, if we will but heed their evident intent. They
wean us from self, they put us off from the false basis of self- righteousness,
and bring us to know that only in Christ can our help be found. So, first of
all, Christ is the end of the law, in that he is its great purpose.

And now, secondly, he is the law's fulfillment. It is impossible for any of us to
be saved without righteousness. The God of heaven and earth by immutable
necessity demands righteousness of all his creatures. Now, Christ has come to
give to us the righteousness which the law demands, but which it never bestows.
In the chapter before us we read of "the righteousness which is of faith," which
is also called "God's righteousness"; and we read of those who "shall not be
ashamed" because they are righteous by believing unto righteousness." What the
law could not do Jesus has done. He provides the righteousness which the law
asks for but cannot produce. What an amazing righteousness it must be which is
as broad and deep and long and high as the law itself. The commandment is
exceeding broad, but the righteousness of Christ is as broad as the commandment,
and goes to the end of it. Christ did not come to make the law milder, or to
render it possible for our cracked and battered obedience to be accepted as a
sort of compromise. The law is not compelled to lower its terms, as though it
had originally asked too much; it is holy and just and good, and ought not to be
altered in one jot or tittle, nor can it be. Our Lord gives the law all it
requires, not a part, for that would be an admission that it might justly have
been content with less at first. The law claims complete obedience without one
spot or speck, failure, or flaw, and Christ has brought in such a righteousness
as that, and gives it to his people. The law demands that the righteousness
should be without omission of duty and without commission of sin, and the
righteousness which Christ has brought is just such an one that for its sake the
great God accepts his people and counts them to be without spot or wrinkle or
any such thing. The law will not be content without spiritual obedience, mere
outward compliances will not satisfy. But our Lord's obedience was as deep as it
was broad, for his zeal to do the will of him that sent him consumed him. He
says himself, "I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea thy law is within my
heart." Such righteousness he puts upon all believers. "By the obedience of one
shall many be made righteous"; righteous to the full, perfect in Christ. We
rejoice to wear the costly robe of fair white linen which Jesus has prepared,
and we feel that we may stand arrayed in it before the majesty of heaven without
a trembling thought. This is something to dwell upon, dear friends. Only as
righteous ones can we be saved, but Jesus Christ makes us righteous, and
therefore we are saved. He is righteous who believeth on him, even as Abraham
believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. "There is therefore,
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus," because they are made
righteous in Christ. Yea, the Holy Spirit by the mouth of Paul challengeth all
men, angels, and devils, to lay anything to the charge of God's elect, since
Christ hath died. O law, when thou demandest of me a perfect righteousness, I,
being a believer, present it to thee; for through Christ Jesus faith is
accounted unto me for righteousness. The righteousness of Christ is mine, for I
am one with him by faith, and this is the name wherewith he shall be called?"The
Lord our righteousness."

Jesus has thus fulfilled the original demands of the law, but you know, brethren, that since we
have broken the law there are other demands. For the remission of past sins
something more is asked now than present and future obedience. Upon us, on
account of our sins, the curse has been pronounced, and a penalty has been
incurred. It is written that he "will by no means clear the guilty," but every
transgression and iniquity shall have its just punishment and reward. Here,
then, let us admire that the Lord Jesus Christ is the end of the law as to
penalty. That curse and penalty are awful things to think upon, but Christ has
ended all their evil, and thus discharged us from all the consequences of sin.
As far as every believer is concerned the law demands no penalty and utters no
curse. The believer can point to the Great Surety on the tree of Calvary, and
say, "See there,oh law, there is the vindication of divine justice which I offer
to thee. Jesus pouring out his heart's blood from his wounds and dying on my
behalf is my answer to thy claims, and I know that I shall be delivered from
wrath through him." The claims of the law both as broken and unbroken Christ has
met: both the positive and the penal demands are satisfied in him. This was a
labour worthy of a God, and lo, the incarnate God has achieved it. He has
finished the transgression, made an end of sins, made reconciliation for
iniquity, and brought in everlasting righteousness. All glory be to his name.

Moreover, not only has the penalty been paid, but Christ has put great and special honour upon
the law in so doing. I venture to say that if the whole human race had kept the
law of God and not one of them had violated it, the law would not stand in so
splendid a position of honour as it does today when the man Christ Jesus, who is
also the Son of God, has paid obeisance to it. God himself, incarnate, has in
his life, and yet more in his death, revealed the supremacy of law; he has shown
that not even love nor sovereignty can set aside justice. Who shall say a word
against the law to which the Lawgiver himself submits? Who shall now say that it
is too severe when he who made it submits himself to its penalties. Because he
was found in fashion as a man, and was our representative, the Lord demanded
from his own Son perfect obedience to the law, and the Son voluntarily bowed
himself to it without a single word, taking no exception to his task. "Yea, thy
law is my delight," saith he, and he proved it to be so by paying homage to it
even to the full. Oh wondrous law under which even Emmanuel serves! Oh matchless
law whose yoke even the Son of God does not disdain to bear, but being resolved
to save his chosen was made under the law, lived under it and died under it,
"obedient to death, even the death of the cross."

The law's stability also has been secured by Christ. That alone can remain which is proved
to be just, and Jesus has proved the law to be so, magnifying it and making it
honourable. He says, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled." I shall have to show you how he has made an end of
the law in another sense, but as to the settlement of the eternal principles of
right and wrong, Christ's life and death have achieved this forever. "Yea, we
established the law." said Paul, "we do not make void the law through faith."
The law is proved to be holy and just by the very gospel of faith, for the
gospel which faith believes in does not alter or lower the law, but teaches us
how it was to the uttermost fulfilled. Now shall the law stand fast forever and
ever, since even to save elect man God will not alter it. He had a people,
chosen, beloved, and ordained to life, yet he would not save them at the expense
of one principle of right. They were sinful, and how could they be justified
unless the law was suspended or changed? Was, then, the law changed? It seemed
as if it must be so, if man was to be saved, but Jesus Christ came and showed us
how the law could stand firm as a rock, and yet the redeemed could be justly
saved by infinite mercy. In Christ we see both mercy and justice shining full
orbed, and yet neither of them in any degree eclipsing the other. The law has
all it ever asked, as it ought to have, and yet the Father of all mercies sees
all his chosen saved as he determined they should be through the death of his
Son. Thus I have tried to show you how Christ is the fulfillment of the law to
its utmost end. May the Holy Ghost bless the teaching.

And now, thirdly, he is the end of the law in the sense that he is the termination of
it. He has terminated it in two senses. First of all, his people are not
under it as a covenant of life. "We are not under the law, but under grace." The
old covenant as it stood with father Adam was "This do and thou shalt live": its
command he did not keep, and consequently he did not live, nor do we live in
him, since in Adam all died. The old covenant was broken, and we became
condemned thereby, but now, having suffered death in Christ, we are no more
under it, but are dead to it. Brethren, at this present moment, although we
rejoice to do good works, we are not seeking life through them, we are not
hoping to obtain divine favour by our own goodness, nor even to keep ourselves
in the love of God by any merit of our own. Chosen, not for our works, but
according to the eternal will and good pleasure of God; called, not of works,
but by the Spirit of God, we desire to continue in this grace and return no more
to the bondage of the old covenant. Since we have put our trust in an atonement
provided and applied by grace through Christ Jesus, we are no longer slaves but
children, not working to be saved, but saved already, and working because we are
saved. Neither that which we do, nor even that which the Spirit of God worketh
in us is to us the ground and basis of the love of God toward us, since he loved
us from the first, because he would love us, unworthy though we were; and he
loves us still in Christ, and looks upon us not as we are in ourselves, but as
we are in him; washed in his blood and covered in his righteousness. Ye are not
under the law, Christ has taken you from the servile bondage of a condemning
covenant and made you to receive the adoption of children, so that now ye cry,
Abba, Father.

Again, Christ is the terminator of the law, for we are no longer under its curse. The law cannot
curse a believer, it does not know how to do it; it blesses him, yea, and he
shall be blessed; for as the law demands righteousness and looks at the believer
in Christ, and sees that Jesus has given him all the righteousness it demands,
the law is bound to pronounce him blessed. "Blessed is he whose transgression is
forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth
not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Oh, the joy of being
redeemed from the curse of the law by Christ, who was "made a curse for us," as
it is written, "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." Do ye, my brethren,
understand the sweet mystery of salvation? Have you ever seen Jesus standing in
your place that you may stand in his place? Christ accused and Christ condemned,
and Christ led out to die, and Christ smitten of the Father, even to the death,
and then you cleared, justified, delivered from the curse, because the curse has
spent itself on your Redeemer. You are admitted to enjoy the blessing because
the righteousness which was his is now transferred to you that you may be
blessed of the Lord world without end. Do let us triumph and rejoice in this
evermore. Why should we not? And yet some of God's people get under the law as
to their feelings, and begin to fear that because they are conscious of sin they
are not saved, whereas it is written, "he justifieth the ungodly." For myself, I
love to live near a sinner's Saviour. If my standing before the Lord depended
upon what I am in myself and what good works and righteousness I could bring,
surely I should have to condemn myself a thousand times a day. But to get away
from that and to say, "I have believed in Jesus Christ and therefore
righteousness is mine," this is peace, rest, joy, and the beginning of heaven!
When one attains to this experience, his love to Jesus Christ begins to flame
up, and he feels that if the Redeemer has delivered him from the curse of the
law he will not continue in sin, but he will endeavour to live in newness of
life. We are not our own, we are bought with a price, and we would therefore
glorify God in our bodies and in our spirits, which are the Lord's. Thus much
upon Christ in connection with the law.

II. Now, secondly, OURSELVES IN CONNECTION WITH CHRIST?for "Christ is the end of the law
to everyone that believeth." Now see the point "to everyone that
believeth," there the stress lies. Come, man, woman, dost thou believe? No
weightier question can be asked under heaven. "Dost thou believe on the Son of
God?" And what is it to believe? It is not merely to accept a set of doctrines
and to say that such and such a creed is yours, and there and then to put it on
the shelf and forget it. To believe is, to trust, to confide, to depend upon, to
rely upon, to rest in. Dost thou believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead?
Dost thou believe that he stood in the sinner's stead and suffered the just for
the unjust? Dost thou believe that he is able to save to the uttermost them that
come unto God by him? And dost thou therefore lay the whole weight and stress of
thy soul's salvation upon him, yea, upon him alone? Ah then, Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to thee, and thou art righteous. In the
righteousness of God thou art clothed if thou believest. It is of no use to
bring forward anything else if you are not believing, for nothing will avail. If
faith be absent the essential thing is wanting: sacraments, prayers, Bible
reading, hearings of the gospel, you may heap them together, high as the stars,
into a mountain, huge as high Olympus, but they are all mere chaff if faith be
not there. It is thy believing or not believing which must settle the matter.
Dost thou look away from thyself to Jesus for righteousness? If thou dost he is
the end of the law to thee.

Now observe that there is no question raised about the previous character, for it is written,
"Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."
But, Lord, this man before he believed was a persecutor and injurious, he raged
and raved against the saints and haled them to prison and sought their blood.
Yes, beloved friend, and that is the very man who wrote these words by the Holy
Ghost, "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that
believeth." So if I address one here this morning whose life has been defiled
with every sin, and stained with every transgression we can conceive of, yet I
say unto such, remember "all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven
unto men." If thou believest in the Lord Jesus Christ thine iniquities are
blotted out, for the blood of Jesus Christ, God's dear Son, cleanseth us from
all sin. This is the glory of the gospel that it is a sinner's gospel; good news
of blessing not for those without sin, but for those who confess and forsake it.
Jesus came into the world, not to reward the sinless, but to seek and to save
that which was lost; and he, being lost and being far from God, who cometh nigh
to God by Christ, and believeth in him, will find that he is able to bestow
righteousness upon the guilty. He is the end of the law for righteousness to
everyone that believeth, and therefore to the poor harlot that believeth, to the
drunkard of many years standing that believeth, to the thief, the liar, and the
scoffer who believeth, to those who have aforetime rioted in sin, but now turn
from it to trust in him. But I do not know that I need mention such cases as
these; to me the most wonderful fact is that Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to me, for I believe in him. I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him
until that day.

Another thought arises from the text, and that is, that there is nothing said by way of
qualification as to the strength of the faith. He is the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believeth, whether he is Little Faith or
Greatheart. Jesus protects the rear rank as well as the vanguard. There is no
difference between one believer and another as to justification. So long as
there is a connection between you and Christ the righteousness of God is yours.
The link may be very like a film, a spider's line of trembling faith, but, if it
runs all the way from the heart to Christ, divine grace can and will flow along
the most slender thread. It is marvelous how fine the wire may be that will
carry the electric flash. We may want a cable to carry a message across the sea,
but that is for the protection of the wire, the wire which actually carries the
message is a slender thing. If thy faith be of the mustard-seed kind, if it be
only such as tremblingly touches the Saviour's garment's hem, if thou canst only
say "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief," if it be but the faith of
sinking Peter, or weeping Mary, yet if it be faith in Christ, he will be the end
of the law for righteousness to thee as well as to the chief of the apostles.

If this be so then, beloved friends, all of us who believe are righteous. Believing in the
Lord Jesus Christ we have obtained the righteousness which those who follow the
works of the law know nothing of. We are not completely sanctified, would God we
were; we are not quit of sin in our members, though we hate it; but still for
all that, in the sight of God, we are truly righteous and being qualified by
faith we have peace with God. Come, look up, ye believers that are burdened with
a sense of sin. While you chasten yourselves and mourn your sin, do not doubt
your Saviour, nor question his righteousness. You are black, but do not stop
there, go on to say as the spouse did, "I am black, but comely."

"Though in ourselves deform'd we are,
And black as Kedar's tents appear,
Yet, when we put Thy beauties on,
Fair as the courts of Solomon."

Now, mark that the connection of our text assures us that being righteous we are saved; for
what does it say here, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt
be saved." He who is justified is saved, or what were the benefit of
justification? Over thee, O believer, God hath pronounced the verdict
"saved," and none shall reverse it. You are saved from sin and death and
hell; you are saved even now, with a present salvation; "He hath saved us and
called us with a holy calling." Feel the transports of it at this hour.
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God."

And now I have done when I have said just this. If any one here thinks he can save himself, and
that his own righteousness will suffice before God, I would affectionately beg
him not to insult his Saviour. If your righteousness sufficeth, why did Christ
come here to work one out? Will you for a moment compare your righteousness with
the righteousness of Jesus Christ? What likeness is there between you and him?
As much as between an emmet and an archangel. Nay, not so much as that: as much
as between night and day, hell and heaven. Oh, if I had a righteousness of my
own that no one could find fault with, I would voluntarily fling it away to have
the righteousness of Christ, but as I have none of my own I do rejoice the more
to have my Lord's. When Mr. Whitefield first preached at Kingswood, near
Bristol, to the colliers, he could see when their hearts began to be touched by
the gutters of white made by the tears as they ran down their black cheeks. He
saw they were receiving the gospel, and he writes in his diary "as these poor
colliers had no righteousness of their own they therefore gloried in Him who
came to save publicans and sinners." Well, Mr. Whitefield, that is true of the
colliers, but it is equally true of many of us here, who may not have had black
faces, but we had black hearts. We can truly say that we also rejoice to cast
away our own righteousness and count it dross and dung that we may win Christ,
and be found in him. In him is our sole hope and only trust.

Last of all, for any of you to reject the righteousness of Christ must be to perish
everlastingly, because it cannot be that God will accept you or your pretended
righteousness when you have refused the real and divine righteousness which he
sets before you in his Son. If you could go up to the gates of heaven, and the
angel were to say to you, "What title have you to entrance here?" and you were
to reply, "I have a righteousness of my own," then for you to be admitted would
be to decide that your righteousness was on a par with that of Immanuel himself.
Can that ever be? Do you think that God will ever allow such a lie to be
sanctioned? Will he let a poor wretched sinner's counterfeit righteousness pass
current side by side with the fine gold of Christ's perfection? Why was the
fountain filled with blood if you need no washing? Is Christ a superfluity? Oh,
it cannot be. You must have Christ's righteousness or be unrighteous, and being
unrighteous you will be unsaved, and being unsaved you must remain lost forever
and ever.

What! has it all come to this, then, that I am to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for
righteousness, and to be made just through faith? Yes, that is it: that is the
whole of it. What! trust Christ alone and then live as I like! You cannot live
in sin after you have trusted Jesus, for the act of faith brings with it a
change of nature and a renewal of your soul. The Spirit of God who leads you to
believe will also change your heart. You spoke of "living as you like," you will
like to live very differently from what you do now. The things you loved before
your conversion you will hate when you believe, and the things you hated you
will love. Now, you are trying to be good, and you make great failures, because
your heart is alienated from God; but when once you have received salvation
through the blood of Christ, your heart will love God, and then you will keep
his commandments, and they will be no longer grievous to you. A change of heart
is what you want, and you will never get it except through the covenant of
grace. There is not a word about conversion in the old covenant, we must look to
the new covenant for that, and here it is?"Then will I sprinkle clean water upon
you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols,
will I cleanse you. A new heart also will I give you, and an new spirit will I
put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I
will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause
you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them." This
is one of the greatest covenant promises, and the Holy Ghost preforms it in the
chosen. Oh that the Lord would sweetly persuade you to believe in the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that promise and all the other covenant engagements shall be
fulfilled to your soul. The Lord bless you! Spirit of God, send thy blessing on
these poor words of mine for Jesus' sake. Amen.